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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24513376">It's your wedding day, and I'm your dad, so I'm supposed to say something</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/petrodobreva/pseuds/petrodobreva'>petrodobreva</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Schitt's Creek</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Clint Brewer is a gem, Episode: s06e14 Happy Ending, Family Fluff, M/M, Missing Scene from 'Happy Ending', a lot of grinning at each other, anon prompt from tumblr, but we all knew that already, father-and-son moment</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:29:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,804</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24513376</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/petrodobreva/pseuds/petrodobreva</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Patrick and Clint have a moment together before the wedding.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clint Brewer &amp; Patrick Brewer, Patrick Brewer/David Rose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>129</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It's your wedding day, and I'm your dad, so I'm supposed to say something</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt from anon on Tumblr: Patrick asks his dad to be his best man and/or Patrick and his dad/parents before the wedding ceremony.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay, I think Stevie and I should probably go get ready. Leave you to put your little suit on…” David tries.</p><p>Patrick is still looking at him skeptically. “Mhmm.”</p><p>David is not doing his best damage control, but he keeps trying. “Okay? Nothing compares to you. My husband-to-be. I love you.” David presses his lips into Patrick’s. It’s a deep kiss, but neither of them can unclench. Or breathe, for that matter.</p><p>Patrick lets himself relent, and says, “This is gonna make for a very strange story one day.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, absolutely.” David rubs his shoulders and then says in what can only be described as a frantic murmur, “Okay. We will meet you at...” David grimaces “...Town Hall.”</p><p>Patrick agrees with a short, “Mhmm”</p><p>“Okay?” David leans in and gives Patrick another deep, insistent kiss. The next few moments are suspiciously silent and awkward as David and Stevie head out of the apartment.</p><p>“Love you, honey!” David calls and the door clicks behind them.</p><p>Patrick thinks that maybe he should be mad about what just happened. He waits for the anger, jealousy, and feelings of betrayal to show up. There is definitely some agitation, a buzzing under his skin that is demanding attention, but it’s not anger.</p><p>Patrick knows what an adrenaline rush feels like. He’s played sports his whole life. He knows what this is. Normally, he would go for a long run or an intense hike to get his equilibrium back. He knows that it’s not going to work this time. He’s getting married today. <em>Married</em>. Married to <em>David</em>. And the whole thing is still on the precipice of completely falling apart. Not the marriage part, the wedding part.</p><p>He strips, throws everything in the hamper, and jumps in the shower. It does not help him calm down.</p><p>When he gets out, he does a bunch of push-ups. It tires him out a little, but the buzz is still there.</p><p>He does what David told him to do and puts on his suit. He leaves the tie untied.</p><p>He turns on the TV to the comforting sound of Canadian sports analysis. He sits, but he doesn’t want to wrinkle his pants. So, he gets up, removes them again, and hangs them neatly on a chair and then sits back down.</p><p>He can’t focus on anything. He sends a quick text to Jocelyn to see how things are coming along.</p><p>He gets up—<em>Maybe I should eat something—</em>and tries to put together some crackers and cheese.</p><p>At the next moment, right as he’s contemplating slicing up an apple, there’s a soft knock at the door.</p><p>He can see who it is through the peephole and opens the door wide.</p><p>“Dad!” Patrick gets another rush through his body, this time warmer, and more easily understandable, more easily addressed by the tight hug in which he is enveloped.</p><p>He smells like his dad, like home. He hasn’t seen his father since his parents visited for Cabaret. They have talked on the phone more in the last six months than they have for the last two years. Still, he forgot what it’s like to stand in front of his father. It’s so easy for him to get comfortable with the image of his parents he has in his head—one tainted by the ignorance of childhood, things they have said in the heat of anger or a moment of forgetfulness, and his imagined fears. Having his father in his presence, Patrick is struck by how much of a whole human being his dad is. He finds himself unable to predict his body language, his facial expressions, his intonation when he speaks, and then finds himself immediately reminded. How could he have wasted all that time? How could he have forgotten everything his father is—tender-hearted and kind, frank and funny, big and tall, gentle, always full of love?</p><p>Clint follows his son into his apartment.</p><p>“It’s the big day!” Clint rubs his hands together enthusiastically, a grin taking over his whole face. “You ready, Patrick?”</p><p>Patrick lets out a huff. “Oh yeah.”</p><p>Clint cocks an eyebrow at Patrick’s state of undress.</p><p>Patrick rolls his eyes. “I just have to put my pants back on.”</p><p>“And put on your shoes and tie your tie.”</p><p>Patrick shakes his head while he shimmies into his tighter-than-usual tuxedo pants. “Mom’s supposed to tie it for me, for the ‘getting ready’ pictures.”</p><p>“Oh, is that something they do nowadays?”</p><p>Patrick chuckles. “Oh yeah. Gotta capture every moment, you know?”</p><p>His dad sighs. He’s still smiling wide.</p><p>After Patrick puts his shoes back on, he returns to stand in front of his father, who is looking at him thoughtfully.</p><p>Patrick smirks. “Dad?”</p><p>Clint puts his hands up to rub Patrick’s shoulders. “It’s your wedding day.”</p><p>Patrick chuckles at the serious look on his father’s face. It almost feels like pretend. “Yes, we’ve established that.”</p><p>“It’s your wedding day,” Clint continues, “and I’m your dad, so I’m supposed to say something.”</p><p>Patrick grins. “Is this the moment?”</p><p>Clint indicates at the empty room. “Seems like as good a time as any.” Patrick tries, and fails, not to roll his eyes at the thought of the many things that have, thus far, gone on in this room today. What a whirlwind September third is turning out to be.</p><p>Clint goes back to holding Patrick’s shoulders. Patrick tries to control his face and mimic his father’s serious expression, but it’s difficult.</p><p>He loves his dad like this, close and towering over him. He always towers, like Superman. Like dads in comic strips. His dad has always been tall, so it never felt weird to Patrick. He supposes that most sons eventually catch up to their fathers, but Patrick never did. Obviously, he takes after his mother’s side. Patrick has never felt small around him, though. He always just felt like he was a mix of his parents. He has always liked that in pictures, he splits the difference between them.</p><p>“I know that it may not be the best way of talking about it,” begins Clint. “'Being a man.'” He puts it in air quotes.</p><p>Patrick smirks, having somewhat of an idea of what’s coming. His dad has plenty of life lessons and platitudes up his sleeve, and he’s heard most of them a few times.</p><p>“Just say what you want to say, Dad. I’ll get it,” Patrick promises.</p><p>Clint grips his shoulders a little tighter. “Okay, then. To be a man, you keep your word.” He thinks for another moment, then says, “You’re going to make a vow today, son, and how you live up to that vow is going to define you every day for the rest of your life.”</p><p>Patrick ducks his head to hide the amusement fully blooming on his face. He lets out an awkward cough. “Yeah, well. I think that attitude might be what got me in trouble in the first place,” he says. They both know he’s referring to Rachel.</p><p>Clint blushes and lets out a puff of air through his nose. He drops his arms from Patrick’s shoulders and puts them in his pockets. “That may be so,” he says. They make eye contact. “Well, I guess the second thing I want to say to you is to not make promises you know you can’t, or shouldn’t, keep.”</p><p>Patrick chuckles at that. He wants to put his hands in his pockets, too, or cross his arms, but he is still being careful about wrinkles in the suit. So instead he leans forward against the couch. “Yeah. Learned that one the hard way,” he says.</p><p>“Well,” says his father, “it’s really good that you learned that before you got married.”</p><p>Patrick’s choked up now. “Yeah.”</p><p>“What I mean is,” starts Clint again, “when you choose your…life partner…” Clint says hesitantly. Patrick opens his mouth to help his dad find the words, but Clint presses on, more confidently. “When you choose your life partner, you have to stick by them. Now, I know David’s his own man, and I know that maybe for your generation it’s different—but when you choose your life partner, you have to stick by them. They are your number one priority. You have to protect them and look out for them. Sometimes from yourself. You have to let them know that you’ve got their back, no matter what.”</p><p>These are the most words that Patrick has heard his father say at once in a long while. Not because he can’t be talkative, he's just always with Patrick's mom, and he just usually lets her take the lead.</p><p>Clint continues, “That also means that you have to show all of that to your partner. It can’t just be a silent promise you make to yourself. You have to make sure that your spouse knows that you will always be there. I don’t know what ways of showing love you and David have for each other, but dating is important. Saying ‘I love you’ is important. Talking about your day and telling them what your next day is going to look like. All of those little things are what make up a partnership, a marriage—" Clint stops when he sees Patrick standing tall in front of him, smiling wetly. “What?”</p><p>Patrick clears his throat, “Nothing, it’s just—” he walks over and puts a hand on his father’s shoulder “—now I know where I get it from.”</p><p>That one startles a chuckle out of Clint. “Oh! Yes, that stands to reason.”</p><p>They look at each other for a moment, and Patrick remembers his dad. That his Dad kisses his wife on the cheek or the top of her head whenever he enters the room; that he always takes out the trash and washes the dishes; that for every meal his wife cooks he says, “Thank god for you, honey,” before tucking in.</p><p>He also thinks of David. David, who taught him about what it means to be in love; who threw him his very first surprise party; who went into what very well could have been a lion’s den to protect him from his parents, and his own fear; who carried him and two heavy backpacks up a mountain just so that his vision of a romantic hike could be realized; who played baseball for him; who sometimes cranks up the dramatics to make him laugh; who takes care of him when he’s sick and makes sure his face doesn’t get too dry in the winter.</p><p>“Don’t worry, Dad,” says Patrick, “I’m pretty sure I can keep this promise.”</p><p>“I know you can, son,” says Clint, “I’m not really worried, it’s just—”</p><p>“—My wedding day,” Patrick finishes for him.</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>“Speaking of…” says Patrick, gesturing toward the door, “shall we?”</p><p>Clint smiles. “Let’s go!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! Just FYI, Clint is doing his best here, and he gets some of it wrong! But I still think he's a good dad, even if he's got a ways to go.<br/>Prompts are always welcome, even if it sometimes takes me a while to get to them.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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